Fashion transfer window: who will go where?

Diverting as purchasing clothes can be, shopping for designers is even more fun. Especially when you don't have to suffer the consequences of a hasty or rashly conceived hire. Pam Hogg for Martin Margiela? Why not - if you're playing this as a party game.

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But if you care about the future of the industry and fancy yourself as a perceptive judge of character, a sound judge of creativity and a tempered adjudicator of staying power, then it's even more interesting to take the musical chairs scenario currently being enacted in fashion seriously.

The houses currently looking for chatelain(e)s are: Louis Vuitton, Jil Sander, Mulberry, Thierry Mugler and potentially, Martin Margiela. Between them they generate several billion Euros a year (admittedly most of that comes from Louis Vuitton). But still, these, for various reasons, are key names: a symbol of pride in their respective countries and provider of jobs.

The job:
Louis Vuitton
The candidates:
Nicolas Ghesquière, Proenza Schouler
Vuitton? Everyone's money is on Nicolas Ghesquière and it's easy to see why. This hugely talented influence needs a big platform. I have no problem with him taking centre stage here - except that he famously doesn't open up to the press very much and one of the delights of Marc Jacobs is that he gives great quotes. There was always plenty to write about while he was at Vuitton. So if not Ghesquière, then I'd opt for Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler. They design beautiful, grown-up clothes. And they'd entertainingly answer my questions backstage after the show.

The job:
Mulberry
The candidate:
Sophie Hulme
At Mulberry I'd place Sophie Hulme. She's much less girly than [former creative director] Emma Hill, but that chimes with where they seem to be positioning the label these days. She's sleek, minimalist, mature and her work reminds me a little of the fabulous classics Nicholas Knightly did when he was there. Knightly, you will recall, was the designer who came up with Mulberry's biggest-selling signatures including the Bayswater.

The job:
Jil Sander
The candidate:
Simone Rocha
She's young, she's relatively inexperienced, but she's the talk of the town(s) - and she delivers a parallel modern, pure, romantic sophistication to Raf Simons's hugely popular vision there. She's also feminine and that's what this label needs.

The job:
Thierry Mugler
The candidate:
Gareth Pugh
And then there's Thierry Mugler - I have to confess, I don't really care about this one. I have no fixed views, as it has been years since this was a serious must-see. But Gareth Pugh seems the ideal fit - and it would be good to have him on the Paris schedule in a slot when we could actually get to see him.

The job:
Maison Martin Margiela
The candidate:
Marios Schwab
The smart money is on Marios Schwab to take on Margiela, and that would be terrific. He's never quite had his dues, partly because he wasn't always consistent. But his form is much more even nowadays and at his best, he is quietly and stunningly original.

So that's it - my views on who should be packing their bags and heading to pastures new. I'm sure there are plenty of other suggestions. Perhaps we should pool them. Then we could charge a huge consultancy fee.